Maggie Ashbrook
Maggie Ashbrook is a telekinetic mutant with the ability to emit microwaves. Originally employed as an astrophysicist at Stark Industries, Maggie soon became distrusting of those around her, eventually becoming a follower of Magneto. Maggie keeps a Tumblr , which she uses as both a journal and Captain America fandom blog. Early Life Maggie was born Maggie Rose Ashbrook to Susan Erroll and Leonard Ashbrook. The eldest of three siblings, Maggie's life was relatively quiet until age 5, when her father abandoned the family as the result of an affair. A fairly sociable and outgoing child, Maggie's abilities began to surface at age 14. Frightened by her powers, Maggie kept them hidden, her curiosity and desire to understand them leading her to an interest in physics and science from a young age. With the passing of the Mutant Registration Act, Maggie's mother surrendered her information to the database on her behalf. Her registration, along with her outstanding achievements in school, resulted in a special invitation to attend Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters with promise of a spot in a special physics program. However, as Maggie was enjoying her life as a popular student at her current high school, she declined, claiming the 'mutant tag' was a 'death sentence.' Despite her desire to fit in, Maggie was still considered 'gifted' due to her advanced understanding of physics and science. At 18, after a graduation dance, Maggie was forced to disclose her abilities to a boyfriend after she accidentally emitted concentrated microwaves to the pleasure centre of his brain. Desperate to re-live the euphoric feeling caused, the boyfriend pressured Maggie to attempt the act again. Maggie eventually relented, but emitted the microwaves for too long, the resulting radiation exposure causing him to suffer brain damage. Maggie quickly became determined to ignore her abilities all together, leaving for college soon after. College Maggie was accepted into one of the country's top science-based universities under a scholarship due to her outstanding SAT results. While she quickly settled in, topping the majority of her classes, Maggie's abilities began to manifest into involuntary episodes. Maggie also began to develop migraines, which almost always triggered her powers, leaving her with little to no control. In an attempt to suppress the episodes, Maggie began taking prescription painkillers, leading to a long-standing dependence. While slightly more withdrawn than previously due to fear of being 'discovered,' Maggie still managed to become quite popular within her social group, enjoying a close group of friends and even entering a relationship with a classmate known only as 'Finn.' During her 22nd birthday party, Maggie quickly became intoxicated, losing all control. She found herself in an episode, and while trying to escape, found herself in the same area as Finn and two other friends, who were swimming in a pool. Going into a panic, Maggie lost all control of her abilities, emitting a large, concentrated amount of microwaves at the pool and causing it to reach above boiling point in a matter of seconds. Finn and another occupant were boiled alive, with the third dying in hospital later. Maggie was arrested, but later released due to a botched investigation, which she attributes to a 'stroke of luck and lack of preparation for dealing with a real-life mutant situation.' However, the community was not as forgiving, the majority of staff and students shunning and ostracizing her. Humiliated and terrified, Maggie dropped out and moved to New York. Maggie's family quickly began to cease contact. Stark Industries After spending the next few year going from job to job, Maggie eventually secured an internship as an admin assistant at Stark Tower. However, following a chance run-in with Tony Stark, she soon became an item of suspicion. Stark soon discovered she was a mutant, and after a migraine-related episode involving the front desk, offered to try and develop a medication for her mutation in exchange for her participation in some tests. Enticed by the idea of a 'cure,' Maggie agreed. Eventually, however, after an accident during a CT scan, Maggie was sedated by Stark to both keep her dependence and powers at bay until another solution was ready. Despite developing a friendship Hayden Helios, Maggie eventually became disillusioned with Stark's intentions, striking up a friendship with Lady Loki after feeling empathy for her situation. Increasingly bitter with her situation, when Magneto attacked Stark Tower, Maggie assisted Lady Loki and Clint Barton escape, choosing to join Magneto after hearing him speak about mutant solidarity. She was soon betrayed by Loki, however, and detained by Tony Stark in his facility for a long period of time. This break of her trust was the final straw, causing Maggie to lose all faith in baseline humans and become obsessed with the idea of mutant superiority. Life as a Terrorist Maggie was soon broken out of Stark Tower by The Joker and Harley Quinn and joined their team in exchange for safety and a steady supply of painkillers to keep her dependance in check. It was soon revealed, however, that Joker had been lacing the drugs with his own version of Titan as part of his plan to both enslave Maggie and harness her powers as a tool of terrorism. Maggie initially obliged, using her powers to destroy an major bank on Joker's behalf. However, the constant game of wits she found herself playing with the Joker in order to try and manipulate him tried her patience. She soon left, taking large stockpiles of drugs, money and nuclear materials with her that they'd been stockpiling for one of Joker's plans. Maggie rallied a small team in New York of allies before using her powers and the boost Joker's titan gave her to obliterate the Manhatten harbor in an isolated but devistating nuclear warp, killing thousands. She then fled to the Ukraine, where she inhabited an abandoned cold war nuclear base. Within a month she had managed to recruit enough allies (both through her cause and through intimidation and manipulation) to run the facility, and managed to aquire and build enough nuclear warheads to wipe out a large portion of the USA. As the plan came closer to completion, Maggie kidnapped her younger sister, Hazel, and imprisoned her in the base so she would survive the fallout. Sensing the threat of both nuclear war Stark made plans to neutralize Maggie and eliminate her by means of cyrogenic freezing or death. Dr Charles Xavier, Hayden and a recently redeemed Loki secretly formulated a plan to instead infiltrate the base and erase a large portion of Maggie's memory. Their plan was successful and Xavier succeeded in wiping all of Maggie's memories from her freshman year onwards. Post Memory Wipe After losing all recent memories, Maggie's personality reverted to that of herself during her freshman year of college. As a result, Xavier was required to give her both extensive counselling and training for her powers so she could re-master them. While some forgave Maggie for her terrorism after the memory wipe, the majority of people did not. Because of her very public threats during her rebellion, Maggie lives in constant danger of vigilante justice if she leaves the protection of any Stark owned building. Tony Stark placed numerous restrictions on her lifestyle including a curfew and restrictions on who she could and couldn't communicate with, however, these have since been relaxed. Maggie was moved into a specialized, survellianced apartment in the tower by Tony Stark and was given back her old job as an astrophysicist, although her role has since expanded to other areas of the science department. The Joker Arc Because of her previous running ins with the Joker, Maggie has found herself as the object of his obsession on more than one occassion. Despite foiling numerous attacks, however, she was eventually kidnapped when betrayed by Poison Ivy during a mission to rescue Hazel from him -- who has been kidnapped so as to lure her in. Wanting to 'bring her back' from the memory wipe so her powers could be used for his own plans, the Joker drugged her and subjected her to weeks of torture, eventually disfiguring her face. Although she was rescued eventually, Maggie continues to struggle with mental trauma from the incident. Her scars were later healed by the Convenient Plot Device Doctor. Misc *At just 5 ft, Maggie is noticeably short for her age. As a result, a majority of her experience with her abilities comes from using them to reach things that she can't. *Maggie is a long standing Captain America fan, despite having never met or seen him in person. *Maggie's desire to apply for an internship at Stark Industries was due to the advice of another Captain America fan and online friend, only known as 'Phil.' Phil recommended Stark Industries, claiming that Stark was 'good people.' Phil ceased posting or responding to messages not long after. *Maggie is often used as a plot device character to initiate stories. Category:Characters Category:original characters Category:mutants